International club soccer pauses this weekend for the finalFIFA international break of the year, making room for a number of playoff gameswith World Cup berths at stake. Italy was already shocked on Friday night tolose 1-0 against Sweden! Despite havingthree of the best teams in Europe, even with a win on Monday, it is doubtfulthat they would qualify. Sweden, evenwith a win Monday night at San Ciro, still would need to get by Belgium toqualify.
Today, Switzerland andNorthern Ireland will conclude their playoff as will Greece and Croatia. Northern Ireland is looking for its firstWorld Cup berth since 1986. Playing atIvory Coast yesterday, Morocco beat the hosts to qualify for the World Cup,which will take place next year in Russia. The U.S. won’t be in Russia next summer but CONCACAF (theNorth American and Carribean soccer confederation) can still send four teamsprovided Honduras can get past Australia. That two-leg playoff began Friday inSan Pedro Sula, Honduras, and resulted in a 0-0 draw. The two teams will play again at Sydney, Australia,on Wednesday, with the winner qualifying for the World Cup. Honduras has played in the last two WorldCups, Australia in the last three. | | | The "All Whites" | In the other intercontinental playoff, Peru, currently ranked10th in the world, faced New Zealand (ranked 122nd) Friday in Wellington andbattled to another 0-0 draw. Ah, theexcitement of soccer. Oceania is the only region not to have anautomatic qualifier to the World Cup, but New Zealand, whose soccer team isknown as the "All Whites," have only been in the tourney twicebefore, but have great hopes. Peru lastreached the World Cup in 1982, and was considered to have strong chances thisyear, until the 0-0 draw, that is. Theteams will play Wednesday in Lima, with the winner qualifying. In the USA, in NFL Football, Heading into Week 10 of the NFLseason, there are 21 teams within 2.5 games of first place in their division. Surprisingly, the Chicago Bears are favoredover the Green Bay Packers, miracles do happen apparently. Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is outwith an injury, and Bears' Mitch Tribisky is surging, surprising because of hisinexperience. The Bears' defense is ranked eighth overall in yardsallowed per game, and rushing attack,also eighth in the NFL, have carried the load. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 11/12/2017 07:19:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
